Driving in Thailand:Applying for a Thai Drivers Licence.
Driving in Thailand is not my favourite pastime. To be honest a lot of the pleasure I took from taking the car out for a spin in the UK has disappeared over the last year as I daily witness the chaotic scenes on the Thai roads. To date I have not been involved in an accident but I believe this is more by luck than good judgement given the accident statistics.
Anyway this post is not really about driving in Thailand but more about what to do to stay legal from a licencing point of view while driving here. Currently I am on my second International driving licence obtained in the UK when I returned home in January 2009. However short of returning home ever year to renew my licence I have been considering the prospect of getting a domestic Thai licence.
Having searched around the Internet for a while I found what appears to be a good site on driving information in Thailand. The process described on this site suggests a temporary Thai licence is first obtained followed a year later with a full licence. Sounds good to me.
I would be interested to know if anyone who reads my blog has actually gone through this process and how easy it was to complete. There is no suggestion of a physical test in the above information other than an eyesight, reflex and 3D perception test.
One positive to come out of getting a Thai domestic domestic licence, apart from the need to renew my International Drivers Licence ever year, is that I would no longer need to pay farang tax at tourist attractions (see comments).
That said Thai licence or not, driving in Thailand remains something that I will continue to endure rather than enjoy!
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5 comments:
Mike ,I did it in one day , not to hard , but some things you need to know that will make it easier . e-mail or call me if you want , and i'll share , I have my 5 year one now Malcolm
Got a 5 year license as well, which I need to renew at the end of the year.
Although a Thai drivers license may help by not having to pay the two tier prices, it's not an official document as such, there's a better piece of paper for such cases, your Thai tax ID card!
I did not hold a Thai license when I drove to the border town, and it was and is legal.
hi all,
I am aware that the following are needed for renewal of a thai driving license:
1. Passport(and 1 signed copy of photo page)
2. The departure card ("TM card" stapled in your passport)
3. The last arrival stamp ("Admitted Until" stamp)
3. Valid visa page
4. Two photos
5. Your old Thai driving license
6. Affidavit from embassy
7. Medical certificate
My question is:
Can a person holding a tourist visa (a 30 day visa) renew his Thai driving license?
I am holding a Thai driving license which was obtained in Sep 08 and will expire in Sept 09. I took all the tests; the theory and practical.
As I no longer work/study in the kingdom anymore, therefore I do not have a Non-Immigrant visa.
I saw posts from some forums that renewal of the Thai driving license can be done without a Non-immigrant visa and can be done with a tourist visa. The only drawback though, would be that they would only renew it for 1 year only.
Would be very grateful if I could get more views and useful info on this, from this forum.
Thanks!
Jon as far as I know you cannot OBTAIN a Thai D/L with a tourist visa, but not sure about renewal.
The article linked in the above post "driving information in Thailand" is pretty comprehensive.
Other than that I can't help. However Malcolm see comment above might be able to help.
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